Elections Archives

Germany’s Greens and the liberal FDP, two kingmakers after the inconclusive federal election, have announced they want to launch talks about a potential coalition with the Social Democrat SPD, rather than with outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel’s CDU/CSU. The first discussions are planned for Thursday (7 October).

The Romanian government of liberal Prime Minister Florin Cîțu was brought down by a no-confidence vote in parliament on Tuesday (5 October), threatening to plunge the country into fresh political instability.

Angela Merkel urged Germans on Sunday (3 October) to forge a common future that draws on their diverse backgrounds, harking back to the 2015 decision to admit 1 million refugees that was a defining moment of her long chancellorship.

The EU is prepared to approve multi-billion-euro recovery plans for Hungary and Poland in the coming weeks, but with strict conditions attached, bloc officials said.

Seeing that election results in EU countries are increasingly determined by older voters, one cannot but wonder: What sort of innovations can we really expect from politics these days?

With the Merkel era coming to an end, both the Franco-German relationship and the tandem’s role in the EU are at a watershed. For the moment, however, France seems to be holding its breath.

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was handed a one-year prison sentence by a Paris court on Thursday (30 September)  after being found guilty of illegal campaign financing over his failed 2012 re-election bid.

Klara Dobrev, a 49-year-old lawyer, has emerged as the front-runner in a joint opposition bid to unseat Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in 2022 elections, partial results of an opposition primary showed on Thursday (30 September).

The Hungarian government on Tuesday (28 September) condemned what it termed Brussels' "blackmail" over the allocation of EU funding as differences between the eastern member and the European Union institutions deepen.

The cards for the German Bundestag have been reshuffled, and the parties are preparing to launch the old mating ritual known as 'coalition talks'. Yet, with the new parliament facing an unprecedented degree of fragmentation, these talks are likely to be long and exhausting. Welcome to a Dutch-style German parliament.

The head of the European Parliament congratulated Olaf Scholz, the chancellor candidate for Germany's Social Democrats (SPD) as winner after a narrow election victory, the first official European Union reaction to the vote result.

Iceland looked to have elected a woman-majority parliament but a recount of votes on Sunday (26 September) showed there will still be more men than women in the chamber, state broadcaster RUV reported.

Following Sunday's federal election, the most likely outcome for the new German Bundestag is one of two coalitions: a Social Democrat-led 'traffic light'-coalition or a Conservative-led 'Jamaica'-coalition. Both camps will now try to win over kingmakers, the Greens and Liberals, to secure a stable majority.

The Italian court of Sassari in Sardinia on Friday (24 September) released former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont after he was detained Thursday on a European arrest warrant, EURACTIV’s partner EFE reported. 

Germany's Social Democrats clinched a narrow victory over Chancellor Angela Merkel's Conservatives in Sunday's federal election, but leaders of both parties quickly claimed their right to try to build a coalition government.

Exiled former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont was arrested in Italy on Thursday (23 September), his lawyer and an aide said, four years after fleeing following an independence referendum that Madrid ruled unconstitutional.

Germans vote for a new parliament on Sunday (26 September) in an election already dubbed 'historic' because it will determine the successor of Chancellor Angela Merkel, who will retire after 16 years at the helm of the EU's strongest economy.

The far-right SPD party, which may play a role in forming a new Czech government next month, would demand the cabinet propose legislation that could lead to a referendum on leaving the European Union, party chief Tomio Okamura said.

As Angela Merkel said goodbye to her Stralsund constituency of 30 years on 21 September and visited Paris one last time as chancellor on 16 September, one might get the wrong impression that she is not long for the international stage.

With the new German parliament likely to be more fragmented after the federal election on Sunday (September 26), several small parties are preparing themselves to play a kingmaker role in the subsequent coalition-building talks.

Germany is heading to the polls on Sunday (26 September) amid intense debate on the future of Europe's fiscal policy.

The upcoming German federal elections are already dubbed 'historic': Veteran Chancellor Angela Merkel will step down after 16 years in office while her conservative CDU/CSU union is polling at historic lows and trailing the Social Democrats, who are in pole position ahead of the 26 September vote.

Germany heads to the polls on Sunday (26 September) with a majority of voters aged above 50, while many teenagers under the legal voting age of 18 feel disgruntled for not being allowed to vote in an election they consider pivotal.

Hungary's government will refund $2 billion of income tax to families in early 2022 and also plans a big hike in the minimum wage, right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Monday, setting the stage for next year's election.